Hidden Liverpool

Hidden Liverpool was an exciting programme from PLACED, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and delivered between August 2013 and October 2014. Hidden Liverpool sought to unlock the history behind some of Liverpool’s empty buildings in order to create a vision for their future.

The project focused on some of the fantastic buildings that played a part in the history of the city but that are lying empty or are significantly under occupied. Our main aim was to highlight, open up discussion and generate ideas about these buildings and sites across the city and how we might sustainably re-use them. We also brought the buildings to life by gathering peoples memories of working and socialising in those buildings before they became empty and presenting the memories as part of three pop-up exhibitions, on an audio CD and in the project book.

We worked with a fantastic mix of people on this cross-generational project from young people, design professionals, campaign groups, artists, local authorities, cultural organisations and a whole host of wonderful volunteers. We learnt that there are a lot of wonderful campaign groups working to save these buildings who need a bit of a helping hand. And we reinforced what we knew already – that people in Liverpool are very passionate about their city.

We are very proud of what we have achieved over the course of the project including:

3870 visitors came to our 3 pop–up exhibitions, including visitors from 28 countries.

12 schools and colleges engaged with the project; some of those students now plan to study architecture as a result of being involved

236 memories and stories were collected

39 empty buildings recorded

‘Next Steps’ – our final public event – gave 9 campaign groups an opportunity to seek advice from key heritage funders and marketing specialists as well as time to share their own experiences and knowledge

Last but not least – 50 volunteers were recruited to Hidden Liverpool plus dedicated PLACED volunteers joining us to deliver the project. We could not have done this project without them and the people who kindly shared their stories and ideas with us so THANK YOU!

The Hidden Liverpool website can be found here which provides a record of the project including memories about buildings. To discover more about the project why not borrow the Hidden Liverpool Book from Liverpool city libraries:

We’d love to know what you think of it, leave your comments on Facebook and Twitter.

The project was a great success and we are keen to keep it going if we can secure funding. We undertook a survey regarding future options for the project and we’re making sure what we do next sees the project taking a positive next step forward. To be kept up to date with what happens next make sure you sign up to the PLACED newsletter or follow us on Twitter. Keep an eye out for developments and we hope to be back with more Hidden…!

Pupil

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